AuthorTopic: The "Do you like that band?" Game (Read 3884 times)

Oh yeah. Well, would anyone consider themselves a fan of The Tremeloes?I'm a fan of their era (and the era when they'd have been teenagers) and if Brian Matthew plays them on a Saturday morning I don't complain.Mind you, I would love to compare their Decca audition with The Beatles' one.

I've been looking for them too. I haven't found them yet, but I came up with this interview of Dave Munden by Gary James regarding the 1 January 1962 audition...

Q - Why do you think Decca Records chose The Tremeloes over The Beatles?

A - Well, I think there's probably two reasons. One is the fact that when we did our audition for Decca, I think we were probably a little bit more rehearsed, more professional. We had our music together. Maybe The Beatles weren't totally professional. They never put their tracks together very well, as well as we did. That's maybe one reason. And also, they came from Liverpool. We came from London, which was a lot closer to Decca's studio. And another reason was one of the guys that worked at Decca, a guy called Mike Smith, he was one of the top A&R guys there, he was from Essex! So, I think that might've helped. He lived probably two or three miles from where we lived. So he might've helped to instigate that I think.

Q - Have you heard The Beatles' audition tape?

A - I did hear it a long time ago because our guy Mike Smith had a copy. I think he still has a copy of it somewhere now. So, we did hear it, but there's only vague recollections of it now.

Q - I heard that Paul was very nervous and it showed in his singing.

A - Yeah. I think that's true. That all bears out the story that I've just said to you. It wasn't very good, their audition tape.

Q - Let's say on that day, The Beatles had secured a record deal with Decca and The Tremeloes had been turned down. What would've happened to The Tremeloes?

A - Wow. I guess we probably would have gone to more record companies.

Q - Just like The Beatles did.

A - Yeah. They were in fact turned down by quiet a few companies, not just Decca. They did the rounds of quite a few of the companies. They weren't accepted, so that's what we would've done. We would've just carried on until hopefully we got a record deal of some kind.

That's great, sounds like a good guy.We always hear about the Decca audition from the point of The Beatles (obviously) but imagine being in the group who beat them to the contract - you could dine out on that for years!

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nimrod

Ahhh memories memories, 18 years old, my mates had an apartment, I couldnt move in as there were no spare rooms but I spent a lot of my life in that place and frequently on the turntable was theyre self titled album, Suite Judy Blue Eyes etc, what a fantastic sound they had and fitted the hippy scene perfectly, I also really liked the follow up which included Neil Young - Deja VuTheir music seemed to catch a moment in time perfectly (the same can be said of 'America' that other 3 piece acoustic trio) beautiful harmonies, great acoustic guitar playing, I remember my favourite was Steve Stills, I bought his 2 solo albums and the huge Mannasas album, I went to see Mannasas live also, they were terrific.

I havent listened to C S & N for years now, I dont think they appeal as much as then, every apartment owner had to own theyre album for late night listening (along with Leonard Cohen)

NME's (OK, so it was bound to be lousy) latest 'Top 500 LPs of all time' poll doesn't contain one Moody Blues' LP.

I've a theory on this - they're too nice, and they're too successful. If Justin Hayward had been born ugly (he categorically wasn't!) and had made a living by being surly to the press, arrogant towards his fan-base, and not sold a bean, they'd have about five entries in that list!

Their early Decca 45s are terrific, with 'Go Now', sung by original vocalist Denny Laine, even getting to No.1 (not a mean feat in '65), but they were unable to follow up on this success. Ironically, if they'd put the b-side out as a follow-up (the brilliant 'It's Easy Child'), they may have rivalled The Beatles and Stones in the mid-60s.

They toured with The Beatles in '65 (presumably when Paul met Denny?) and put out great 45 followed by great 45, but most flopped.

Denny left to make the INCREDIBLE 'Say You Don't Mind', and the group finally got back on track when an LP, made by Decca to test out their stereo equipment, ('Days Of Future Passed') hit pay dirt, and introduced the world to the sublime, though not as good as 'Say You Don't Mind', 'Nights In White Satin'.

'Fly Me High', 'Love and Beauty', 'Tuesday Afternoon', 'Ride My See-Saw', 'Watching and Waiting'.....The Moodies are a wonderful group, but destined to always be by-passed, in the UK at least, by the greats (Beatles, Stones etc.) and, more bafflingly, those perceived to be edgier.

I've a theory on this - they're too nice, and they're too successful. If Justin Hayward had been born ugly (he categorically wasn't!) and had made a living by being surly to the press, arrogant towards his fan-base, and not sold a bean, they'd have about five entries in that list!

I agree with your theory, oldbrownshoe. I was at this club concert in 1995. There were just 300 people in the audience and I was sitting at a stageside table in front of Justin Hayward. He took the time to talk with me a bit between songs...

Yes, there's a two hour documentary on Sky Arts doing the rounds at the moment on the group and there's a segment near the end where they, and in particular Justin Hayward, arrange a meet-and-greet event in a hotel the morning after a concert.It's free of charge, buffet and wine are on offer, and he's seen moving between fans (ordinary fans, not rich fans) - mainly women! - asking how far they've come to see group etc.

Funny how the nicest guys are the one's who are marginalised in the 'cool' stakes. Another example is David Essex.Funny how the absolute b******* are elevated in the 'cool' stakes......Pete Doherty?

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nimrod

Yes, there's a two hour documentary on Sky Arts doing the rounds at the moment on the group and there's a segment near the end where they, and in particular Justin Hayward, arrange a meet-and-greet event in a hotel the morning after a concert.It's free of charge, buffet and wine are on offer, and he's seen moving between fans (ordinary fans, not rich fans) - mainly women! - asking how far they've come to see group etc.

Yes, there's a two hour documentary on Sky Arts doing the rounds at the moment on the group and there's a segment near the end where they, and in particular Justin Hayward, arrange a meet-and-greet event in a hotel the morning after a concert.It's free of charge, buffet and wine are on offer, and he's seen moving between fans (ordinary fans, not rich fans) - mainly women! - asking how far they've come to see group etc.

Yeah, I like them a lot! What a great blues and beat band they were! I really began listening to them more closely in the late 60s after they charted here with Gimme Some Lovin' and I'm a Man. By then, I developed an interest in the blues and I borrowed their Second Album LP from a friend during my first year in college in 1968...

The SDG had terrific (mostly instrumental) B-sides, and 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', with a post-Stevie SDG and Traffic, with Stevie!, is one of the great 60s film soundtracks.

Much maligned, (or ignored, due to the shameful lack of CDs on the shop-floor) there's more to the DC5 than first meets the eye.

Mike Smith was a fine all-round sportsman having a trial with Tottenham Hotspur when Tottenham Hotspur (and football, come to think of it) were good, and wasn't Dave Clark a useful boxer?

They had 3 rougher, rockier 45s on Piccadilly in '62, the first two pre-dating 'Love Me Do', before their hits on Columbia.

Indeed, they were the only English group that Mark Lamarr used to play on both his Rock 'n' Roll AND Obscure 60s shows on Radio 2 (before Radio 2 went soft and got rid of Lamarr in preference for big band music and Sinatra), as they also released a whole load of Garage Punk stuff (seriously) in the US in the mid-60s which didn't come out in the UK.

Their success in the US was perhaps greater than the British public realise as their only US No. 1, 'Over and Over', was a hit as late as '65.

And their hits in the UK didn't dry up like some of their contemporaries, the group still charting in the late 60s and early 1970s.

However, their greatest achievement is the magnificent film 'Catch Us If You Can' from '65, which, will transport you straight back to mid-60s London (a good thing) more than any other film I've ever seen, and, believe me, I've looked.

Not as much as The Beatles, not as much as Brian Jones & The Rolling Stones, but I like them.

nimrod

OK, for those not paying attention, Billy Fury isn't a group (!), so.....Next: The Pink Floyd.

Its not 'The Pink Floyd' its just Pink Floyd - like it says on the albums

A love hate relationship with me, sometimes I think they were overrated, sometimes I think they were fantastic, THE most successful prog rock band of all time who continued what they did all through the punk era, they have always been proggy, although they did ditch the space prog they were famous for ie Meddle, Saucerful Of Secrets and move away from that.Dark Side Of The Moon can be considered a classic, a truly monumental album which personally for me is theyre best work, the track, Us & Them is very simple but superb - although I absolutely love Astronome Domine from their first album

They haven't been as good since Roger Waters left imo and theyre trio albums were very patchy, Rick Wright sadly died not too long ago so they can never be re-united

OK, for those not paying attention, Billy Fury isn't a group (!), so.....Next: The Pink Floyd.

The Wall was one of those formative albums for me, hearing it when I was 14 or 15 and seriously getting into music. I liked something about most of PFs albums from whatever era, although I stopped buying after Momentary Lapse of Reason. They really weren't Floyd anymore.

A love hate relationship with me, sometimes I think they were overrated, sometimes I think they were fantastic, THE most successful prog rock band of all time who continued what they did all through the punk era, they have always been proggy, although they did ditch the space prog they were famous for ie Meddle, Saucerful Of Secrets and move away from that.

Would you say The Final Cut was still prog Nim? To me it sounded a social commentary concept album with more classic rock strains. Not that thats a complaint.